American, JetBlue, Southwest Among U.S. Airlines to Start Cuba Flights

American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and Southwest Airlines are among the six airlines selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation to offer non-stop commercial flights from the United States to nine cities in Cuba.

The agency announced that five U.S. cities, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Philadelphia, will be the first gateways to the island nation in fifty years. The nine Cuban cities are Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara, and Santiago de Cuba

“The resumption of scheduled air service to Cuba is a historic achievement and we commend Secretary Foxx and his team for making it a reality,” said Steve Johnson, American’s executive vice president of corporate affairs, in a statement.

The other carriers that will operate commercial flights to Cuba are Frontier Airlines, Silver Airways, and Sun Country Airlines.

Southwest said it “welcomes today’s decision by the U.S. DOT approving our service from Ft. Lauderdale to the Cuban destinations of Varadero and Santa Clara,” in a statement Friday.

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Much to my relief, British Airways had neither a cabin crew strike or an IT systems outage the day of my flight from London to Dublin. Indeed, it appeared that the job actions that defined the start of summer this year were a distant memory when I arrived at Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, British Airways’ main terminal.
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